Walnuts
by Aevium
Summary: After a rather embarrassing event for Toph, Sokka explains to her why she reminds him of a walnut. It's more interesting than it sounds. - Tokka oneshot -


**Author's Note:** So this is a little weird sounding, I know. But it's actually more serious than you think (with humour too). I also tried a different style to my writing, I hope it worked out well!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. It belongs to its repective creators.

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_**Walnuts**_

**_By: Aevium_**

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_Stupid Katara . . . stupid Sokka . . ._

Toph stormed out of the campsite, each step producing a small crater of earth under her feet. She was annoyed. She was angry—no, _furious._ Who did Katara think she was? Making a fool of Toph like that, and right in front of Sokka!

Alright, so maybe Toph was over-reacting a little, but, she had every reason to, right? Katara had completely humiliated her, in front of the one person she didn't _want_ to be humiliated to.

. . . Wait, why did she care so much?

Oh. Right. How could she forget? Because she had a stupid, obnoxious, utterly and totally ridiculous crush on the Water Tribe boy. She often questioned herself why—he was a slob, pretty annoying at times, wasn't even a bender, and cared far too much for meat.

Though he was brave, and funny, and sarcastic—like herself, and they got along pretty well. And he cared about her, genuinely, unlike her parents. And . . .

Okay. So she had a pretty big crush on the meathead. So what? It was perfectly normal. Well, he _was_ three years older than her. But then again, her parents had taught her that age didn't matter—though that was only to prepare her for the upcoming arranged marriage that she might have to endure, to someone that could end up being twice her age.

So, yeah . . . advice from her parents was a no-go.

But how about getting back to the topic at hand, huh?

So Toph had blushed in front of Sokka, and Katara had happened to notice. The waterbender thought she'd be 'funny' and point it out to everyone; Aang, Appa, Momo, the two rabbit-squirrels munching on acorns in the corner . . . and yes, of course Sokka, she was getting to him!

It wasn't bad enough that Katara had pointed out the one thing that she had been trying to hide, but then, _then_ Sokka had to come in and inspect her face, which _of course_ made her blush further. What? She was unused to closeness; her parents were pretty distant most of the time. And she could feel him gazing at her, his breath on her face. It was horrible. Just thinking about the moment made Toph slap a hand to her face as she plopped down on the soft grass of the meadow she had wandered to.

So then he started talking about how Toph looked like she was flushed from heat. Oh—a fever maybe? The oblivious fool. Well, at least his ignorance had spared him from figuring out her true feelings towards him. Toph cringed.

Now _that_ would be humiliating.

Okay, back on track: so Katara pressured on about it. "_It's no fever Sokka. I think she's got a little crush on you!"_ She knew Katara was kidding. She knew it was some sort of cruel payback for the little prank she pulled on Sweetness that morning. She couldn't resist! Appa was shedding, there was fur all over the place—a handful of fur would do no harm in the waterbender's morning soup, right?

Right . . . well apparently Toph was wrong. Because Katara got her back. Good. Even if the waterbender didn't realize it.

_Anyway,_ so Sokka continued on about how it could just be the heat, Katara carried on jokingly about Toph's 'crush'. All of which just made Toph hide her face further and further behind her bangs. Humiliating! All of it! Even worse than the time she kissed Suki on the cheek instead of Sokka—err, how about _not_ getting into that irrelevant event?

Oh-ho, and that wasn't the end of it. It got worse. _So_ much worse. And all with one simple comment from Sokka.

"_Katara, you're insane. Toph and I are nothing but buds, best friends! Her liking me like that would just be . . . weird. I mean _come on!_ Toph and me!? Pfft, ya right!" he exclaimed. _

Toph had felt her heart break then and there. That statement was an equivalent to Sokka ripping out her heart, squeezing it a couple of times, and then stomping on it repeatedly on the dirt-coated ground.

And that was, of course, the moment when Toph had turned around, without a word, without a sound, and stomped heavily out of their sight. She was sure the others had to hold on to something to avoid tumbling over. Her advanced hearing had picked up on Sokka dumbly stating, "_Was it something I said?"_

_Ya_, you dumb idiot! It _was _something you said. It was _everything_ you said! Insensible moron!

Toph breathed. _Okay . . . calm . . . so, he's not exactly interested. That's okay. I can work with that. Yeah . . ._ Toph snorted. Ya, right! It was hopeless, utterly hopeless! Sokka didn't like her, not in the least! To him she was just a little sister, a best friend. But she could settle for that, couldn't she? That was good enough.

So _why_ whenever his name popped into her head, she either felt butterflies in her stomach, or an intense heartache? Why couldn't she just see him as a friend?

Easier said than done.

Toph sighed. Love was nothing but trouble, she didn't know how Aang and Katara managed to be all mushy and gushy around each other all the time, and make it seem so easy. She wasn't into that kind of stuff anyway. It wasn't her. What better way to express your affection towards someone than degrading put-downs and intense violence?

Toph chuckled at herself there. Maybe she needed to lighten up towards Sokka. The affection she gave him seemed to be more of a brotherly-sisterly kind of friendship—though that's what she was intending to do. To disguise her real feelings.

So maybe she needed to open up. Shed some of that hard, outer shell of hers. Maybe then Sokka would see her as more than just a friend.

It was at that moment she felt heavy footsteps on the ground. Definitely not Aang's. Katara's were softer as well. Oh great. Sokka. Just the person she needed.

"Hey Toph—"

"What do you want?" the blind girl asked bitterly. So much for 'shedding her outer shell'.

"I just wanted to talk. I mean, I think I must have said something stupid to you like I always do, and I haven't realized what it is yet but—"

"Let me guess, Katara told you to come out here right?" Toph interrupted again. Before he could reply, the earthbender went on, "Well you're wasting your time. I'm fine. You were right, the heat is getting to me and I just need to sit and have some time alone right now, so do you mind . . .?"

"First of all, no, Katara didn't ask me to come out here. I came on my own. And second, I know you well enough to tell you when _you're_ lying, so spill it, what's up?" he said, plopping down on the soft grass next to her.

Toph, in a laying position, turned away from him, a stubborn frown on her face. "Nothing's up. Now _go away_ before I earthbend you to next year!"

"I'm willing to take that risk if it'll make you feel better," Sokka put in comically. Toph just growled. "Okay, okay, so maybe now's not the time for jokes."

An awkward silence followed. The wind seemed to have picked up and the grass brushed past Toph's face, tickling her skin. She sighed in annoyance as she sensed Sokka digging into his pocket for something. Why wouldn't he just go away? Oh great, now he was playing with the object. Just _leave_, you imbecile! Couldn't he see that she didn't want—

"You know what you remind me of? A walnut," Sokka said bluntly, twisting the object in his hand around, which she now assumed was a walnut.

Toph sat up. "_Excuse_ me?" Now she was a _walnut_ to him? Gorgeous.

"A walnut. Care to hear why?" he asked, throwing the nut in the air and catching it for pure fun.

"Oh, do bask me in the ever _intriguing_ tale of why I remind you of a _walnut_," Toph's sarcasm would have gone off the scale if there was some way to measure it.

Sokka just laughed. "Well, walnuts have this hard outer shell. So hard that I can't penetrate it easily at all. In order to get inside of it, I have to use different tactics until I find one that works. And then I have to make sure I open it carefully, so I don't crush the inside. I want to keep the nut inside in good condition, so I don't have to pick up the pieces left behind from a crushed nut. I don't want to hurt the inside of it; I want to be gentle with it, because it's delicate, unlike its outer shell," he explained.

Toph glared at him confusedly. "_What?_"

Sokka ignored her and went on. "Problem is, I think I might have accidentally crushed the inside of this walnut today. I don't know how, but I did," he informed, squeezing the walnut in his hand tightly.

Toph faced the ground with her legs folded to her chest and her arms resting on her knees. She was beginning to see the symbolism. "You sure did," she muttered.

Sokka was silent for a while. He took a deep breath and sighed. "But you know, day by day, I feel like I'm making progress with this outer shell. It's starting to grow weaker and I'm getting closer and closer to its inner core. I've already seen glimpses of it, I just need to delve deeper until I crack it wide open," he affirmed, turning his head to face her.

She could feel him smiling, and she turned away. He took her wrist, and to her surprise placed the walnut into her palm. He closed her fingers over it, so that it was wrapped safely inside. She turned to face his general direction with an innocent, yet thoughtful expression. One that Sokka rarely got to see from her.

_Day by day, I'm seeing more and more of those expressions, _he thought as he stared into those milky green eyes of hers.

"You don't have to tell me what I did to upset you today. That's your business and yours alone. Just know that I care about you, and that I'm sorry if I hurt you. You're my best friend, you know. I'll share anything with you. I trust you the most. I connect with you the most. And I wouldn't trade this friendship for anything in the world—nothing at all," he assured softly, as he got up from his sitting position and stretched.

He patted her on the shoulder and began to walk away. She stared blankly ahead, and frowned in confusion as she sensed him turn around.

"Toph?" when she turned slightly he knew she was listening. She was always listening. "One of these days, I'm gonna crack that shell of yours wide open, and see the other side of you completely. The side that you're hiding from me," he said, and started to stride away conclusively.

But she picked up something else, and she thanked her amazing hearing a million times over.

"The side that I'm waiting for."

Clenching the nut tightly in her fist, Toph smiled. What an amazing boy Sokka was. She didn't feel heartache anymore. Just butterflies in her stomach. And she couldn't be happier.

"I forgive you, Sokka."

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**A/N:** So you can take Sokka's ending statement as romantic feelings on his side, or just friendship. Whatever you like, I purposely made it ambiguous, for the readers to choose for themselves. Comments?

--Aevium


End file.
